Kyoto Three Sisters Inn Annex

Nikon FA, Nikkor C 35/2 O.C, Kodak Porta 4000

We had the great pleasure of staying at the Three Sisters Inn Annex for our stay in Kyoto.  It is a traditional style Japanese ryokan inn, although it caters primarily to western visitors.

The inn is located right in the middle of the scenic east side of Kyoto.  It is literally a next door neighbor to the Heian Shrine and served as an excellent base of operations for our stay.

Another plus of the Three Sisters was that Kyoto City buses going virtually anywhere stop within a few blocks.  I can think of only one time we had to perform a bus transfer during our whole stay, otherwise we made point-to-point trips every time.

The Inn and grounds are quite beautiful.  Above is a view directly out of our room, and the garden in the front was an excellent view during our morning breakfasts.

Speaking of breakfast they offer either western or Japanese style breakfasts.  They are both excellent, and at the moment I would gladly enjoy either!

The best thing about the Inn however is the staff.  They are very friendly and helpful and gave us many tips for getting around Kyoto, eating the food and seeing the sights.

When we were leaving I could not convince the sweet proprietor Kay-san to let us walk to the bus stop alone.  She insisted on helping us pull our luggage even though we had plenty of hands to spare.

One final tip about travelling within Japan: use the Ta-Q-Bin service to send your luggage from one inn or hotel to the next.  It is incredibly cheap (~$15 US per piece) for large luggage, arrives in less than 24 hours, and saves you the hassle of lugging it around on the trains.